In their presence, you really can feel the earth breathing. The lush green landscapes of trees backed by the harsh, cold rock of mountains. Bold, bright sunlight shining down through crisp, pure air onto nature's finest creation, softly dusted with snow. The strongest force of nature and to me, the greatest attraction.

The bustling life that lives inside their shadow operating below the scarcely seen life atop the very highest peak.

They create a desire in me to wander and to roam. To feel free and simple, to live a pure life. I can honestly say that I've caught the bug. And while I was scrolling through Instagram recently, an old friend had posted a quote that made me shout YES! I finally understand - it is a bug, a feeling of longing, an undefinable sense of awe. There is something about being around mountains that pulls me in; a magnetic force so strong that I know I won't be able to ignore it for long...

"That's it for you now. If you didn't know it already, you've woken something up and it's never going away. If that part of you is there, everyone's got their own moment when they felt their mountain heartbeat spring to life."

from 'Between the Sunset and the Sea' by Simon Ingram.

I can't describe how true this statement is. One morning last week, I was scrolling through Instagram and someone had posted a photo of them and their partner at Moraine Lake. Honestly, when I happen to stumble upon a photo of the Rockies like that, my heart skips a beat. There's just something there, a connection that I will feel forevermore. And now I understand; it is my mountain heartbeat.I know that a big part of how I feel about the Rockies is to do with the euphoric cloud that we were on after getting married and jetting off there for our honeymoon. I also know that there's more to it than just that - something I can't quite describe, or fully understand.But nor do I need to.It just is.Photos from our Canadian Rockies honeymoon, September 2015.